


Light Up Your World

by astraplain



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-01
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-06-05 17:06:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6713572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astraplain/pseuds/astraplain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While cleaning out a storage room for Burt, Finn discovers something unexpected</p>
            </blockquote>





	Light Up Your World

**Author's Note:**

> written for the Hummel holidays prompt: lights

“Hey, Burt?” Finn stepped back and counted the three boxes that he’d checked and set aside and four more still on the shelves top shelves, all labeled ‘lights’.

“Did you call?” Burt asked, leaning into the rarely used storage room. “Oh,” he said, walking in to get a better look at the boxes Finn had been counting. With a sigh, Burt peered into the open box on the top of the pile, then did the same silent count Finn had. “I didn’t realize there were so many.”

He reached past Finn to pull another box down off the shelf and open it. More lights, as labeled. He took his cap off to scratch his head, using the time to look around. Finn had been helping out at the garage, earning some money for when he went back to college in the fall. Even living at home and attending the local community college, he needed money for incidentals and spending time with friends. Finn hadn’t dated anyone seriously since Rachel, but there were a few girls that he’d invited to Friday night dinner so Burt knew it was just a matter of time.

“So…. why do you have seven boxes full of Christmas lights?” Finn had to ask even though it was clear that Burt wasn’t happy to see them. Finn looked around the small room that he’d been cleaning out. “And why are they behind all that stuff?” He gestured to the assorted car parts and old tools, all of which had been in front of these boxes.

“I was sort a’….” Burt’s voiced trailed off into a mumble and Finn leaned closer.

“What?” He asked. “I couldn’t hear that last part.”

“Look,” Burt sighed. “Let’s go get a coffee or something. You’re done here except for those, right?”

“Sure,” Finn shrugged. There were a few odds and ends left on one of the bottom shelves and there was stuff everywhere waiting to sorted but he could use something to drink and he wanted to know what was up with all those lights. There had to be enough there to decorate half of Lima.

“Okay,” Burt said once they were seated near the back of the Lima Bean. Burt didn’t usually go there but he knew his Finn liked it. Kurt was in New York working for Vogue.com and playing a minor role in an off off-Broadway play but Burt would always think of this as Kurt’s place.

“You know about that first Christmas after Kurt’s mom…” Burt trailed off, taking a drink of the fancy coffee he’d ordered to moisten his suddenly dry throat. Finn was nodding and looking serious, so Burt moved on to the rest of his story. “I didn’t do so hot with decorations that first year. No tree. No lights. Nothing except what Kurt had managed and even he didn’t want to go all out.” Burt took another drink, then frowned, more at the memory than the sweetness of the coffee.

“Kurt loved the after Christmas sales even then, so I took him to a few. Seeing all the discounted decorations, I got a crazy idea…”

“You were going to put up all those lights?” Finn boggled at the idea. He and his Mom had never done more than a few strands outside their old house.

“Yeah. I guess I went a little overboard. I hid them at the garage planning to surprise Kurt but by the time Christmas rolled around again….” Burt sighed. “I didn’t forget the tree, but I just couldn’t do much more than that. Eventually I forgot those lights were back there, especially when we expanded and built the new storage area. That old room just kept getting piled up with junk.”

“I’m surprised Kurt let it go that long.” Finn said with a laugh and a grimace. He’d been witness to a Kurt Hummel cleaning spree more than once. It was hard to imagine Kurt had ignored an entire storage room, even if it was in the far corner of the garage behind a rack of tires.

“I kept it locked for a while,” Burt explained. “It was such a mess I was afraid he’d try to clear it himself and get hurt.”

“Yeah, two of the guys helped me move the big stuff earlier. Kurt never could have done it alone.” Finn took a drink, watching as Burt looked around at the other patrons of the Lima Bean. They kind of stood out among the high school kids and the harried business people but Kurt had been comfortable here and Burt appreciated that more than he worried about overpriced coffee.

“About those lights,” Finn said when he had Burt’s attention again. He leaned closer with a big smile. “I have an idea.”

+++++

“You can’t be serious.” Kurt came to a dead stop before turning, hands on hips, to glare at Adam. “Did my Dad put you up to this?”

“He did,” Adam said, grinning with delight and snapping a picture with his phone. “The Apples helped me decorate.”

Decorate was too small a term for the near blinding intensity of the lights that lined the interior of the loft and spelled out Kurt’s name on the back wall.

“It was my idea,” Finn said, stepping forward and wrapping Kurt up in a huge hug before handing him off to Burt.

“I supplied the lights,” Burt said proudly, looking around at the display. After all that time, some of the strands hadn’t worked, but there were still plenty that did. “It’s about time you got to see your name in lights.”

Kurt thanked each one in turn, hugs for his father and Finn and kisses for Adam, then insisted they take pictures to send to Carole, who had been unable to make the trip on such short notice. It was while Finn and Adam were studying the take-out menus that Kurt moved close to his dad and asked, in a low voice : 

“So, you finally remembered these were in the storage room?” He laughed brightly at Burt’s shocked expression..

At Kurt’s insistence, they went out to dinner, leaving the lights on to welcome them home.

::end::


End file.
